TALKS ON SPECIFICS IN PARIS INDICATED

WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 —The Nixon Administration has let it be known that it believes Henry A. Kissinger's latest negotiations with the North Vietnamese in Paris were more concerned with substantive issues and less with polemics than in any of the previous sessions.

Although neither the White House nor the North Vietnamese have disclosed any details about the four days of talks in Paris, sources familiar with the contents have suggested that the two sides finally got down to specific questions.

These questions are understood to have spanned the spectrum of problems: the future political alignment in South Vietnam, the establishment and preservation of an effective cease‐fire, guarantees for Laos and Cambodia, the exchange of prisoners, and the withdrawal of American and North Vietnamese forces from South Vietnam.

Gap Hard to Measure

Mr. Kissinger, President Nixon's adviser on national security affairs, and Le Duc Tho, a member of the North Vietnamese Politburo with whom he met, were understood to have discussed these and other questions late into the night, without necessarily having come up with any firm agreements or commitments.

Mr. Tho, before leaving Paris yesterday for Hanoi, said that many difficult problems remained, and the White House said it would not challenge that statement.

It is assumed here that Mr. Tho will not return to Paris for at least another 10 days to two weeks. Moreover, it is not known whether the apparent business‐like atmosphere that kept Mr. Kissinger in Paris for four days of talks—the longest since their meetings began in August, 1969 — will be maintained.

The impression given by the Administration through hints and suggestions made privately by well‐placed, but not necessarily totally informed officials is that it is unlikely that any agreement on Vietnam can be achieved by the time of the election Nov. 7.

Senator George McGovern, the President's Democratic opponent, has made the war major campaign issue. He has publicly drawn attention to statements made by Mr. Nixon as a candidate in 1968 to the effect that no one should be re‐elected who could not end the war in four years in office.

Mr. Nixon's supporters, such as the Senate minority leader, Hugh Scott, Republican of Pennsylvania, have predicted that Mr. Nixon may be able to achieve the goal of ending the war by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20, but probably not by election day.

Because of his wide margin over Senator McGovern in the political polls, Mr. Nixon is said not to feel any more pressure than usual to find a solution in the remaining three and one‐half weeks before the election.

Nor has North Vietnam in recent weeks given any sign publicly or privately that it was waiting to see if Mr. McGovern could be elected before making any moves.

Evidence seems to point to the contrary. Reports reaching Washington from diplomats in Hanoi and such visitors as John Hart of the Columbia Broadcasting System have stressed that Hanoi was talking optimistically about a settlement to a degree not noted before.

The apparent seriousness of the Paris talks has led to visible concern in Saigon where President Nguyen Van Thieu has spoken publicly about any concessions to the Vietcong. He has specifically repeated his opposition to a coalition with the Communists or to neutralization of South Vietnam.

It is anticipated here that Mr. Thieu's concern may mount in coming weeks and at some point his priorities of preserving American support and his own power base may clash with American priorities of withdrawing from South Vietnam without permitting a Communist take‐over by force.

So far, Mr. Thieu has muted his criticism of the United States. But he has just recalled his Ambassadors from Washington, Paris and London for consultations, and some experts here said they would not be surprised if his uneasiness should ‘Tome more vocal.

The State Department's specialists on Vietnam have been asked in recent days to prepare answers to a series of specific questions on North and South Vietnam that seemed to some officials ix) indicate that the negotiations were getting to the point where Mr. Kissinger and his staff needed more expertise to negotiate particular points.

Secretary of State William P. Rogers was briefed by Mr. Kissinger yesterday and is due to answer questions on the television program “Face the Nation” tomorrow over the American Broadcasting Company network. It is not known whether Mr. Nixon will permit him to provide any details on the course of the negotiations.

We are continually improving the quality of our text archives. Please send feedback, error reports,
and suggestions to archive_feedback@nytimes.com.

A version of this archives appears in print on October 15, 1972, on Page 1 of the New York edition with the headline: TALKS ON SPECIFICS IN PARIS INDICATED. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe